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SO MOnday: 30th November 2015

Views 30/11/2015

Hewie Dalrymple and Abbey Torrance round up the best social and mobile news from the past week – including mobile adblocking, RBS’ Facebook At Work plans and The Verge’s Christmas Gift Guide... get inspired!

There are reports that both O2 and EE are “exploring options to give consumers more control over the type and quantity of ads they receive as they look to ensure they are part of the ad blocking debate and try to enforce good behaviour among advertisers.”

This shows that they are waking up to the fact that according to the IAB, 18% of UK adults are actively using ad blocking technology. “This is mostly through third-party technology such as AdBlock Plus, which offers apps that consumers have to download,” says the IAB.

I think this totally makes sense because your smartphone is your more personal device. I always think of the example that you would happily lend your laptop to your mate but you wouldn’t hand over your mobile phone to them, just because it is your private online world at your fingertips.

It is important that companies make a stand to ensure brands don’t push consumers towards turning their backs on advertising – and that is why we tell our clients to ensure they are serving the right message at the right time to the right person.

RBS has announced that all 100,000 employees are going to be given access to Facebook At Workand instruct them to use this instead of e-mail moving forward.

This is a big move from the bank; however they began testing Facebook At Work this summer with a small number of employees and found it “enabled staff to work much more efficiently together”.

Chief Administrative Officer, Simon McNamara said: “I’ve already been using Facebook At Work while we test it and it’s been so useful – allowing me to exchange information and ideas quickly and securely with all my team on a wider range of projects.

“I am excited about how bringing people together from all across the bank through Facebook At Work can help our employees do their job better – whether it’s being able to find answers to customer queries much faster or helping us come up with new ideas.”

Would your company move towards Facebook instead of email? Are there issues around privacy here?

Adsquare’s report, Mobile Audience Radar, has found that “60 per cent of UK smartphone users are using their mobile device to buy products, with 47 per cent buying products they’ve seen in store via their smartphone, as mobile becomes an increasingly central aspect to the retail experience”.

It is definitely expected that figures around Black Friday and Cyber Monday will see an uplift in smartphone purchasing ahead of Christmas 2015.

Many Instagram users have multiple accounts; one personal, one for your small business, and another that you use to take the mickey. At the moment the only way to switch between these accounts is to log out and then log in with totally new details. This process could become more streamlined as Instagram are looking to roll out support for multiple accounts that will let you switch between them quickly and efficiently. The social media managers amongst you will have reason to be cheerful.